CII Criticises PSERC’s Marginal Hike in Tariff

By 1 2 1 News Reporter

Chandigarh 24^th August:- CII's office bearers from Punjab expressed their views over the marginal increase in power tariffs affected by PSERC through its latest Tariff Order. Sanjeev Pahwa, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council & Managing Director, Ralson India Limited commented that "PSERC's decision for allowing only a marginal hike of upto 2% for most of the categories including Industrial is thelowest hike in power price since the past 12 tariff orders". Mr Pahwa mentioned that burden of power tariff enhancements in the past had become unbearable for the Industry from the fact also that Punjab is far away from the ports and suffers locational disadvantages. 

D L Sharma, Convenor, CII Punjab Policy & Advocacy Panel & Director, Vardhman Textiles Limited stated that though only a marginal hike has been recommended by the PSERC, still Punjab is among one of the costliest states in terms of power for industry and the primary reason is  due to free power supply to agriculture sector, the cross subsidy burden on the industry has been growing consistently in the last couple of years, which is quite contrary to the advisory by CERC which has been calling upon states' electricity bodies to gradually phase out cross subsidies.

Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII Northern Region, stated that PSERC has strived to consider the interests of all stakeholders including residential, Industrial and commercial consumers in its latest tariff order. He stated that, "CII understands the importance of agrarian sector in every aspect to the state, however we also feel that the policy to sustain agriculture at the expense of industrial sector will not be sustainable in the long run. Mr Singh also recommended that Government may consider helping small & marginal famers shift to energy efficient motors & related equipment and also incentivize those who conserve power by providing cash transfers in lieu of energy saved. This will encourage farmers to adopt energy saving practices and thereby cutting down on power wastages being incurred in Agri sector.